Contents

In many cases there is no clear distinction between simple dolmens and stone cists;[3][4] in the necropolis of Brüssow-Wollschow, in the Uckermark region, simple dolmens and stone cists occur together. The differences consist in the degree to which they are embedded and in the material used for the sidestones (orthostats); in simple dolmens the sidestones consist of rubble, in stone cists of slabs. Whether this was of relevance for neolithic people, remains questionable, because there are also combinations of both materials.

The smallest simple dolmens occur on the Danish island of Zealand, where the ratio of length-to-breadth of the southern half of the island (Dolmen of Jyderup) (1.7 x 0.6 m) is even less in the north. This small size led researchers such as Hans-Jürgen Beier, to refuse to give simple dolmens the status of a megalithic site. Whether, however, the equally very small megalithic tombs fulfil his conditions, is still open to question. Also in Sicily, in recent years, are being found small dolmen monuments, because around the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the west coast of the Mediterranean island was caught up in a cultural wave (bringing the bell-shaped goblet) coming the Sardinian coast, which in turn had imported from the peninsula Iberica.[5]

Cava dei Servi dolmen, Sicily

You can follow the evolution of simple dolmens, which for the early builders was a learning process, and how, step by step, they met the demands placed on them at the time by producing ever more mature (and larger) solutions, this also applies to the development of simple dolmens into extended dolmens (also called rectangular dolmens), to its round variant, the polygonal dolmen, and to the great dolmens.

The prototype of the simple dolmen is the so-called block cist, enclosed on all sides and dug into the ground, it has no entrance and is, once closed, difficult for the technically less skilled user to open and re-utilise. It was therefore only intended for a one-time use.

On the island of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, two simple dolmens were found in a common enclosure (Hünenbett). But there is usually only one simple dolmen within an enclosure, lying parallel to the longitudinal axis, the so-called parallel type (Parallellieger); in Ulstrup near Gundeslevholm two of the three simple dolmens form a pair next to one another in the enclosure. The block cist in the Tykskov of Varnæs near Aabenraa and the one in the Nørreskov on Alsen lie diagonally within the enclosure. North of the River Eider about 20% of the simple dolmens are covered by a circular mound.

Initial progress - in terms of multiple use - was achieved by the creation of an entrance; in examples that were still dug into the ground the entrance was (in Denmark and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) initially made through the roof - as, for example, at Barkvieren. By dividing the ceiling into a large stone and a stone that could be lifted by hand, access from above was enabled, this variant, however, is not very widespread.

Breakdown of the 18 simple dolmens researched by Schuldt

This development path was abandoned in favour of options using other axes of entry, the simple dolmen was now buried less deeply and the upper half of one of the ends was used as access. This form can be found e.g. in the stone enclosures of Grundoldendorf. The weight of the single stone was still divided amongst three orthostats, this process shows the discovery of the stability of a three-point support system.

The always parallel-sided open simple dolmens are 2.2 to 2.6 metres long and 1.0 to 1.8 metres wide and slightly larger than the closed examples. For Schleswig-Holstein, the small chamber at DobersdorfPlön county, (only 1.8 metres long x 0.5 metres wide) is, in this respect, an exception. Of the 20 simple dolmens in Schleswig-Holstein, 12 are sealed on all sides, five are classified as open at the end and the design of three (destroyed) simple dolmens cannot be determined. Of about 88 simple dolmens once found in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern there are still 51 survivors.

Subsequently, the first rectangular dolmens (Grammdorf in the municipality of Wangels) and passage graves (Deinste) were built, still sunk in pits. In the next step, the neolithic builders understood how to lay the foundation of the three or more supporting stones (which in simple dolmens were always placed on their longest sides) in such a way that their base of the structure could be closer to the surface of the ground, this higher positioning allowed a passage to be added that led into the chamber at ground level (below right). Now, however, a threshold stone was required that separated the chamber and the profane or secular passage (symbolically) from one another.

The effort was made to reduce the size of the slab covering the opening of the re-usable simple dolmen to one that could be manhandled by the settlement community, the simple dolmen with a passage evolved into the "extended dolmens", which are generally longer, usually have more than one capstone and - apart from the transitional types at Neu Gaarz, Bad Doberan county - have orthostats that stand on one of their two smallest faces, thus allowing the roof of the chamber to be higher.

Simple dolmens once lay within stone enclosures or under circular mounds, but many of these have been removed, the simple dolmen at Lindeskov on Fyn lies within a 168-metre-long enclosure, the second longest in Denmark (after the Kardybdysse, 185 m). By comparison, the longest German enclosure measures 160 metres; in Poland, the length of one chamberless enclosure is 130 metres.[6] In the Netherlands, researchers have only come across one site within an enclosure.

^This detailed classification of dolmens into subtypes is only common in Germany. In the Netherlands and Poland these types do not occur; in Denmark and Sweden a distinction is only made between dolmens (Dysse, Döse) and passage graves. In Denmark the type of mound is used to distinguish dolmens in the nomenclature (Runddysse and Langdysse)

1.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form

2.
Dolmen
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A dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone, although there are also more complex variants. Most date from the early Neolithic, Dolmens were typically covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In many instances, that covering has weathered away, leaving only the skeleton of the burial mound intact. It remains unclear when, why, and by whom the earliest dolmens were made, the oldest known dolmens are in Western Europe, where they were set in place around 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it and they are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artefacts, have found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using radiocarbon dating. However, it has been impossible to prove that these date from the time when the stones were originally set in place. The word dolmen has a confused history, the word entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour dAuvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his Origines gauloises using the spelling dolmin. The name was derived from a Breton language term meaning stone table but doubt has been cast on this. Nonetheless it has now replaced cromlech as the usual English term in archaeology, granja is used in Portugal, Galicia, and Spain. The rarer forms anta and ganda also appear, in the Basque Country, they are attributed to the jentilak, a race of giants. The etymology of the German, Hünenbett, Hünengrab and Dutch, of other Celtic languages, Welsh, cromlech was borrowed into English and quoit is commonly used in English in Cornwall. Great dolmen Passage grave Polygonal dolmen Rectangular, enlarged or extended dolmen Simple dolmen Korean dolmens exhibit a distinct from the Atlantic European dolmen. The largest concentration of dolmens in the world is found on the Korean Peninsula, with an estimated 35,000 dolmens, Korea alone accounts for nearly 40% of the world’s total. Three specific UNESCO World Heritage sites at Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa by themselves account for over 1,000 dolmens, the Korean word for dolmen is goindol supported stone. Serious studies of the Korean megalithic monuments were not undertaken until relatively recently, after 1945, new research is being conducted by Korean scholars. In 1981 a curator of National Museum of Korea, Gongil Ji, the boundary between them falls at the Bukhan River although examples of both types are found on either side. Korean dolmens can also be divided into three types, the table type, the go-table type and the unsupported capstone type

3.
Megalith
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A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For later periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g. at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times

4.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a federal state in northern Germany. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the sixth largest German state by area, and the least densely populated, three of Germanys fourteen national parks are in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in addition to several hundred nature conservation areas. Major cities include Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar, the University of Rostock and the University of Greifswald are among the oldest in Europe. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was the site of the 33rd G8 summit in 2007, due to its lengthy name, the state is often abbreviated as MV or shortened to MeckPomm. In English, it is translated as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or literally Mecklenburg-Cispomerania. Inhabitants are called either Mecklenburger or Pomeranians, the form is never used. The full name in German is pronounced and this is because the digraph <ck> marks a preceding short vowel in High German. Mecklenburg however is within the historical Low German language area, another explanation is that the c comes from a mannerism in High German officialese of writing unnecessary letters, a so-called Letternhäufelung. Human settlement in the area of modern Mecklenburg and Vorpommern began after the Ice Age, about two thousand years ago, Germanic peoples were recorded in the area. Most of them left during the Migration Period, heading towards Spain, Italy, in the 6th century Polabian Slavs populated the area. While Mecklenburg was settled by the Obotrites, Vorpommern was settled by the Veleti, along the coast, Vikings and Slavs established trade posts like Reric, Ralswiek and Menzlin. In the 12th century, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern were conquered by Henry the Lion and incorporated into the Duchy of Saxony, all of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was settled with Germans in the Ostsiedlung process, starting in the 12th century. In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the Obotrites, subjugated its Nikloting dynasty, in the course of time, German monks, nobility, peasants and traders arrived to settle here. After the 12th century, the territory remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbours, Mecklenburg first became a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1348. Though later partitioned and re-partitioned within the dynasty, Mecklenburg always shared a common history. The states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became Grand Duchies in 1815, Vorpommern, litererally Fore-Pomerania, is the smaller, western part of the former Prussian Province of Pomerania, the eastern part became part of Poland after the end of World War II. In the Middle Ages, the area was ruled by the Pomeranian dukes as part of the Duchy of Pomerania, Pomerania was under Swedish rule after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648 until 1815 as Swedish Pomerania. Pomerania became a province of Prussia in 1815 and remained so until 1945, wartime In May 1945, the armies of the Soviet Union and the Western allies met east of Schwerin

5.
Funnelbeaker culture
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The Funnelbeaker culture, in short TRB or TBK was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. Especially in the southern and eastern groups, local sequences of variants emerged, the younger TRB in these areas was superseded by the Single Grave culture at about 2800 BC. The north-central European megaliths were built primarily during the TRB era, the Funnelbeaker culture is named for its characteristic ceramics, beakers and amphorae with funnel-shaped tops, which were found in dolmen burials. The TRB ranges from the Elbe catchment in Germany and Bohemia with an extension into the Netherlands, to southern Scandinavia in the north. With the exception of some settlements such as Alvastra pile-dwelling. It was characterised by single-family daubed houses c.12 m x 6 m and it was dominated by animal husbandry of sheep, cattle, pigs and goats, but there was also hunting and fishing. One find assigned to the Funnelbeaker culture is the Bronocice pot from Poland, primitive wheat and barley was grown on small patches that were fast depleted, due to which the population frequently moved small distances. There was also mining and collection of flintstone, which was traded into regions lacking the stone, the culture imported copper from Central Europe, especially daggers and axes. The houses were centered on a grave, a symbol of social cohesion. Burial practices were varied, depending on region and changed over time, inhumation seems to have been the rule. The oldest graves consisted of wooden chambered cairns inside long barrows, originally, the structures were probably covered with a heap of dirt and the entrance was blocked by a stone. The Funnelbeaker culture marks the appearance of megalithic tombs at the coasts of the Baltic and of the North sea, the megalithic structures of Ireland, France and Portugal are somewhat older and have been connected to earlier archeological cultures of those areas. At graves, the people sacrificed ceramic vessels that contained food along with amber jewelry, flint-axes and vessels were also deposed in streams and lakes near the farmlands, and virtually all Swedens 10,000 flint axes that have been found from this culture were probably sacrificed in water. They also constructed large cult centres surrounded by pales, earthworks, the largest one is found at Sarup on Fyn. It comprises 85,000 m2 and is estimated to have taken 8000 workdays, another cult centre at Stävie near Lund comprises 30,000 m2. Marija Gimbutas postulated that the relationship between the aboriginal and intrusive cultures resulted in quick and smooth cultural morphosis into the Corded Ware culture. By contrast a number of archaeologists in the past have proposed that the Corded Ware culture was a purely local development from Funnel Beaker. Thus the question of continuity versus migration at the cusp of the change was of interest to geneticists specialising in ancient DNA

6.
Nordic megalith architecture
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Nordic megalith architecture is an ancient architectural style found in Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia and North Germany, that involves large slabs of stone arranged to form a structure. It emerged in northern Europe, predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC and it was primarily a product of the Funnelbeaker culture. In addition, there are polygonal dolmens and types that emerged later, for example, the Grabkiste and Röse. This nomenclature, which derives from the German, is not used in Scandinavia where these sites are categorised by other, more general, terms, as dolmens, passage graves. Neolithic monuments are a feature of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities and their appearance and function serves as an indicator of their social development. The glacial erratics selected for the walls and roofs, in addition to being the size, had at least one relatively flat side. Sometimes these were made by splitting a stone, probably by means of heating and quenching. The orthostats, which were dug into the ground a little way in the phase after the simple dolmens, were given the necessary purchase on the ground by basal slabs. In Denmark, several sites have corbels, usually doubled, supporting the capstones, in one of the sites at Neu Gaarz and Lancken-Granitz in Mecklenburg it is partially double-corbelled. The Rævehøj of Dalby on the Danish island of Zealand has a three- to four-corbel design, in Liepen and at several other places it is corbelled in the area of the roughly 0.5 m projecting corbel block. The finished capstones rarely have a weight exceeding 20 tons, by contrast in the rest of the megalithic region, weights of over 100 tons occur. The floor plan of chambers is rarely square, but may be oval, polygonal, rectangular. Whilst the sidestones at many smaller sites stand close together, the gaps between orthostats of great dolmens and passage graves are more than one metre wide. On Zealand the chamber of a grave on Dysselodden is quite the reverse. Here, the orthostats, which are above the height of a man, are so precisely matched that a sheet of paper cannot be inserted in the cracks between them. Floor coverings were obligatory in all chambers and were separated by the threshold stone from the, usually uncobbled. The ante-chamber of great dolmens was usually left bare, in several cases the passages were also covered. In these cases, the chamber was sometimes enhanced by a second threshold stone nearer the entrance

7.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously

8.
Lower Saxony
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Lower Saxony is a German state situated in northwestern Germany and is second in area, with 47,624 square kilometres, and fourth in population among the sixteen Länder of Germany. In rural areas Northern Low Saxon, a dialect of Low German, and Saterland Frisian, a variety of Frisian, are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining. Lower Saxony borders on the North Sea, the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Netherlands. Furthermore, the state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen, the other, its city of Bremerhaven. In fact, Lower Saxony borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland, the states principal cities include the state capital Hanover, Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Hildesheim, Wolfenbüttel, Wolfsburg and Göttingen. The northwestern area of Lower Saxony, which lies on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia, in the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland, a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plains, is almost invariably flat except for the hills around the Bremen geestland. Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Uplands, the Weser Uplands, between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills, a range of low ridges. Thus, Lower Saxony is the only Bundesland that encompasses both maritime and mountainous areas, Lower Saxonys major cities and economic centres are mainly situated in its central and southern parts, namely Hanover, Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, Hildesheim and Göttingen. Oldenburg, near the coastline, is another economic centre. To the north, the Elbe river separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the banks just south of the Elbe are known as Altes Land. Due to its local climate and fertile soil, it is the states largest area of fruit farming. Most of the territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover with several states in 1946. Lower Saxony has a boundary in the north in the North Sea. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a body for the enclave area. To the southeast the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands, in northeast Lower Saxony is Lüneburg Heath

9.
Weser
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The Weser is a river in Northwestern Germany. On the opposite bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula, thus, the Weser has an overall length of 452 kilometres. Together with its Werra tributary, which originates in Thuringia, its length is 744 kilometres, the Weser river is the longest river whose course reaches the sea and lies entirely within German national territory. The upper part of its course leads through a region called the Weserbergland. Between Minden and the North Sea, humans have largely canalised the river, eight hydroelectric dams stand along its length. It is linked to the Dortmund-Ems Canal via the Coastal Canal, a large reservoir on the Eder river, the main tributary of the Fulda, is used to regulate water levels on the Weser so as to ensure adequate depth for shipping throughout the year. The dam, built in 1914, was bombed and severely damaged by British aircraft in May 1943, causing destruction and approximately 70 deaths downstream. As of 2013 the Edersee reservoir, a summer resort area. The Weser enters the North Sea in the southernmost part of the German Bight, in the North Sea, it splits up into two arms representing the ancient riverbed at the end of the last ice age. These sea-arms are called Alte Weser and Neue Weser and they represent the major waterways for ships heading for the harbors of Bremerhaven, Nordenham and Bremen. The Alte Weser lighthouse marks the northernmost point of the Weser and this lighthouse replaced the historic and famous Roter Sand lighthouse in 1964. The largest tributary of the Weser is the Aller, which south of Bremen. Dieter Berger, Geographische Namen in Deutschland, karsten Meinke, Die Entwicklung der Weser im Nordwestdeutschen Flachland während des jüngeren Pleistozäns. Ludger Feldmann und Klaus-Dieter Meyer, Quartär in Niedersachsen, exkursionsführer zur Jubiläums-Hauptversammlung der Deutschen Quartärvereinigung in Hannover. Hans Heinrich Seedorf und Hans-Heinrich Meyer, Landeskunde Niedersachsen, band 1, Historische Grundlagen und naturräumliche Ausstattung. Ludger Feldmann, Das Quartär zwischen Harz und Allertal mit einem Beitrag zur Landschaftsgeschichte im Tertiär, papierflieger, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2002, Seite 133ff und passim. Heinz Conradis, Der Kampf um die Weservertiefung in alter Zeit, J. W. A. Hunichs, Practische Anleitung zum Deich-, Siel- und Schlengenbau. Herausgegeben von der Mittelweser AG, Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 1960, kuratorium für Forschung im Küsteningenieurswesen, Die Küste

10.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe

11.
Necropolis
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A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek νεκρόπολις nekropolis, literally meaning city of the dead, the term usually implies a separate burial site at a distance from a city, as opposed to tombs within cities, which were common in various places and periods of history. They are different from fields, which did not have remains above the ground. While the word is most commonly used for ancient sites, the name was revived in the early 19th century and applied to planned city cemeteries, such as the Glasgow Necropolis. Aside from the pyramids which were reserved for the burial of Pharaohs the Egyptian necropoleis included mastabas, naqsh-e Rustam is an ancient necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. The oldest relief at Naqsh-i Rustam dates to c.1000 BC, though it is severely damaged, it depicts a faint image of a man with unusual head-gear and is thought to be Elamite in origin. The depiction is part of an image, most of which was removed at the command of Bahram II. Four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings are carved out of the face at a considerable height above the ground. The tombs are known locally as the Persian crosses, after the shape of the facades of the tombs, later, Sassanian kings added a series of rock reliefs below the tombs. In the Mycenean Greek period pre-dating ancient Greece burials could be performed inside the city, in Mycenae for example the royal tombs were located in a precinct within the city walls. This changed during the ancient Greek period when necropoleis usually lined the roads outside a city, there existed some degree of variation within the ancient Greek world however. Sparta was notable for continuing the practice of burial within the city, the Etruscans took the concept of a city of the dead quite literally. The typical tomb at the Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri consists of a tumulus which covers one or more rock-cut subterranean tombs and these tombs had multiple chambers and were elaborately decorated like contemporary houses. The arrangement of the tumuli in a grid of streets gave it a similar to the cities of the living. The art historian Nigel Spivey considers the name cemetery inadequate and argues that only the term necropolis can do justice to these burial sites. Etruscan necropoleis were located on hills or slopes of hills. In ancient Rome families originally buried deceased relatives in their own homes because of the Roman practice of ancestor worship, the enactment of the Twelve Tables in 449 BC forbade this, which made the Romans adopt the practice of burial in necropoleis. List of necropoleis Funerary art Catacombs

12.
Uckermark
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The Uckermark, a historical region in northeastern Germany, currently straddles the Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The region is named after the Uecker River, which is a tributary of the Oder, the rivers source is close to Angermünde, from where it runs northward to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Oder River, forming the German-Polish border, bounds the region in the east, the western parts of the Lower Oder Valley National Park are located in the Uckermark. In the Ice Age, glaciers shaped the landscape of the region, a climate change left a hilly area with several lakes formed by the melting ice, and humans started to settle the area. Megalithic-cultures arose, followed by Germanic cultures, from the 6th–12th centuries Polabian Slavs migrating from Eastern Europe moved westward into the later Uckermark. The Slavs settling the terra Ukera became known as Ukrani and their settlement area was centered around the lakes Oberuckersee and Unteruckersee at the spring of the Uecker River. In this region, burghs with a proto-town suburbium were set up at Drense, after the 983 revolt of the Obodrites and Liutizians, the area became independent again, yet remained under permanent military pressure, especially from Poland and the Holy Roman Empire. In 1172 Pomeranian dukes, vassals of the Duchy of Saxony, later of the Holy Roman Empire, controlled the area. The early centers of the territory were the Seehausen Premonstratensian monastery, both the central city and the central monastery were set up beside the former Ukrani central burghs. The Margraviate of Brandenburg, holding claims on the Duchy of Pomerania, expanded north since the 1230s, in the 1250 Treaty of Landin, Barnim I conceded the Uckermark to John I and Otto III, Ascanian Margraves of Brandenburg. After the extinction of the Ascanians, the Pomeranian dukes reacquired a few border regions, Mecklenburg advanced into the Uckermark, but lost her gains in a 1323 war with Brandenburg. In the Pomeranian-Brandenburg War from 1329–33, Pomerania was able to defeat Brandenburg at Kremmer Damm, in the following years, control of the Uckermark was disputed by Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania. The Uckermark became part of Brandenburg-Prussia in 1618, but was ravaged during the Thirty Years War, frederick William, the Great Elector, invited large numbers of French Huguenots to resettle the Uckermark and his other territories by announcing the Edict of Potsdam. These Huguenots helped to develop the economy and culture of the Uckermark, in 1701 the territory became part of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, the Uckermark became part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, the Uckermark was a battleground during World War II, with many of its towns being severely damaged. As part of East Germany after the war, the Uckermark was divided between Bezirk Neubrandenburg and Bezirk Frankfurt

13.
Cist
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A cist is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East, a cist may have been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a cairn or long barrow. Several cists are sometimes found close together within the cairn or barrow. Often ornaments have been found within an excavated cist, indicating the wealth or prominence of the interred individual

14.
Megalithic architectural elements
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This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures. In archaeology, a forecourt is the given to the area in front of certain types of chamber tomb. Forecourts were probably the venue for ritual practices connected with the burial, in European megalithic architecture, forecourts are curved in plan with the entrance to the tomb at the apex of the open semicircle enclosure that the forecourt creates. The sides were built up by either large upright stones or walls of stones laid atop one another. Some also had paved floors and some had blocking stones erected in front of them to seal the tomb such as at West Kennet Long Barrow. Their shape, which suggests an attempt to focus attention on the tomb itself may mean that they were used ceremonially as a kind of open air auditorium during ceremonies. Excavation within some forecourts has recovered animal bone, pottery and evidence of burning suggesting that they served as locations for votive offerings or feasting dedicated to the dead, see curb for the roadside edge. In archaeology, kerb or peristalith is the name for a ring built to enclose. European dolmens especially hunebed and dyss burials often provide examples of the use of kerbs in megalithic architecture, kerbs may be built in a dry stone wall method employing small blocks or more commonly using larger stones set in the ground. When larger stones are employed, peristalith is the term more properly used, often, when the earth barrow has been weathered away, the surviving kerb can give the impression of being a stone circle although these monuments date from considerably later. Excavation of barrows without stone rings such as Fussells Lodge in Wiltshire suggests that, in these examples, famous sites with kerbs include Newgrange where many of the stones are etched with megalithic art. An example of the dry stone wall type of kerb can be seen at Parc le Breos in Wales, an orthostat is a large stone with a more or less slab-like shape that has been artificially set upright. Menhirs and other standing stones are technically orthostats although the term is used by archaeologists only to describe individual prehistoric stones that constitute part of larger structures, common examples include the walls of chamber tombs and other megalithic monuments and the vertical elements of the trilithons at Stonehenge. Especially later, orthostats may be carved with decoration in relief, in the latter case, orthostats are large thin slabs of gypsum neatly and carefully formed, for use as a wall-facing secured by metal fixings and carrying reliefs, which were then painted. Many orthostats were a focus for art, as at Knowth in Ireland. In megalithic archaeology a port-hole slab is the name of an orthostat with a hole in it sometimes found forming the entrance to a chamber tomb, the hole is usually circular but square examples or those made from two adjoining slabs each with a notch cut in it are known. They are common in the graves of the Seine-Oise-Marne culture. Portal stones are a pair of Megalithic orthostats, usually flanking the entrance to a chamber tomb and they are commonly found in dolmens

15.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government

16.
Zealand
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Zealand is the largest and most populated island in Denmark with a population of 2,267,659. It is the 96th-largest island in the world by area and the 35th most populous and it is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Fixed Link, to Lolland, Falster by the Storstrøm Bridge and the Farø Bridges. Zealand is also linked to Amager by five bridges, Zealand is linked indirectly, through intervening islands by a series of bridges and tunnels, to southern Sweden. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is located partly on the shore of Zealand. Other cities on Zealand include Roskilde, Hillerød, Næstved and Helsingør, the island is not connected historically to the Pacific nation of New Zealand, which is named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. In Norse mythology as told in the story of Gylfaginning, the island was created by the goddess Gefjun after she tricked Gylfi and she removed a piece of land and transported it to Denmark, which became Zealand. The vacant area was filled with water and became Mälaren, however, since modern maps show a similarity between Zealand and the Swedish lake Vänern, it is sometimes identified as the hole left by Gefjun. Zealand is the most populous Danish island and it is irregularly shaped, and is north of the islands of Lolland, Falster, and Møn. The small island of Amager lies immediately east, Copenhagen is mostly on Zealand but extends across northern Amager. A number of bridges and the Copenhagen Metro connect Zealand to Amager, Zealand is joined in the west to Funen, by the Great Belt Fixed Link, and Funen is connected by bridges to the countrys mainland, Jutland. Gyldenløveshøj, south of the city Roskilde, has a height of 126 metres, Zealand gives its name to the Selandian era of the Paleocene. Urban areas with 10, 000+ inhabitants, North Zealand Media related to Zealand at Wikimedia Commons Zealand travel guide from Wikivoyage

17.
Rectangular dolmen
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A rectangular dolmen, extended dolmen or enlarged dolmen is a specific type of megalith, rectangular in shape, with upright sidestones and, usually, two capstones. The term rectangular dolmen was coined by Ekkehard Aner and is used especially in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, a more precise term, however, is extended dolmen, used by Ewald Schuldt and Ernst Sprockhoff, because these types of dolmen also occur with trapezoidal ground plans. Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities and their emergence and function are a hallmark of social development. Whilst the simple dolmen as a rule only had one capstone, the rectangular dolmen, once a third capstone is added, it is called a great dolmen in Germany. A sub-grouping of this type of dolmen is based on the ever-present entranceway, within long mounds, rectangular dolmens are usually oriented at right angles to the axis of the enclosure. The proportion of rectangular dolmens in round mounds, compared with simple dolmens, the proportion of mounds is probably higher, because experience has shown that circular mounds leave fewer traces than stone enclosures. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, however two of the 20 extended dolmens surveyed by E. Schuldt were covered by round mounds. Most types of dolmen that form part of the Nordic megalith architecture genre are open at one end, occasionally, a short passage is built in front the chamber, often of just one or two pairs of stones of 1. 0-1.5 metres in length. Even at undisturbed sites, it is often so short that it does not extend out as far as the stones of the enclosure or the stones around the mound, and just forms the ante-chamber to the main chamber. In Denmark and Sweden, the passages could be much longer, in Sicily, Monte Bubbonia dolmen is a chambered tomb 2.20 mt length, made of colossal splinters of rock, with no significant modifications, in rectangular shape. About 145 of these occur in Schleswig-Holstein, where it the most common type of dolmen. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,54 extended dolmens have survived of an estimated 98 formerly, rectangular dolmens also occur in groups within stone enclosures. A far greater number of enclosures, but also a few round mounds, have two dolmens or chambers, Nordic megalith architecture Mamoun Fansa, Großsteingräber zwischen Weser und Ems. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach,2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3

18.
Polygonal dolmen
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The polygonal dolmen is a visually very attractive megalithic architectural structure and is therefore often depicted as the archetypal dolmen. It is encountered frequently in the north of the Danish island of Zealand, in the Swedish province of Bohuslän and on the Cimbrian Peninsula, for example. In Schleswig-Holstein, there are 11 examples, in Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt they appear are only occasionally. Neolithic monuments are expressions of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities and their emergence and function are indicators of social development. Five to nine supporting stones, or orthostats, shape the plan of the polygonal chamber. A single, sometimes especially large capstone covers them, an externally built entrance passage, whilst obligatory, has often not survived. In Dithmarschen the rectangular and polygonal dolmens of Albersdorf are particularly important, the Brutkamp is one of the most impressive examples of this type. Typologically viewed, the chamber of Hemmelmark, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, stands out, with its unusual dimensions of 2.8 ×2.25 metres, polygonal dolmen occur more rarely within stone enclosures and more frequently in round barrows. Originally it was thought that type of dolmen originated in the west. These views were refuted by research by Ewald Schuldt in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Ancient Stones, The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily, untersuchungen zum Aufbau der Grabanlagen nach neueren Ausgrabungsbefunden. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion, deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin,1972. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach,2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3

19.
Great dolmen
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Neolithic monuments are features of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities. Their evolution and function act as indicators of social development, the type of site, called Stordysse in Danish, does not follow the criteria listed below. The antechamber dolmen is found southeast of that, between Demmin and the island of Usedom, several variant, but very rare examples recall the extended or polygonal dolmen types. In Mecklenburg there are 146 great dolmens, of which Ewald Schuldt has investigated 44, there are also two great dolmens in Schleswig-Holstein, several in western Lower Saxony, but quite a few in Saxony-Anhalt. Since the width of northern megalith sites is limited due to the material used. Great dolmens reach an interior size of 14 cubic metres. Great dolmens have up to five capstones lying on eight to twelve supporting stones, several great dolmens were extended using wide piers, on which, in certain cases, even capstones may have been placed. Like passage graves, great dolmens are a type of layout, the 44 great dolmens that have been investigated were found in various configurations. Five were surrounded by rectangular and 8 by trapezoidal frames of standing stones,4 were buried under circular mounds, in one case, the type of mound was not known because it had been removed. The trapezoidally-framed dolmens have guardian stones, sometimes at both ends, the great dolmen of Gaarzerhof, which initially lay within a very short rectangular frame, was eventually covered with a circular mound. New York, de Gruyter Berlin u. a, untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972, beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3

20.
Sylt
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Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia, the northernmost island of Germany, it is known for its tourist resorts, notably Westerland, Kampen and Wenningstedt-Braderup, as well as for its 40-kilometre-long sandy beach. It is frequently covered by the media in connection with its situation in the North Sea. Since 1927, Sylt has been connected to the mainland by the Hindenburgdamm causeway, in latter years, it has been a resort for the German jet set and tourists in search of occasional celebrity sighting. With 99.14 square kilometres, Sylt is the fourth-largest German island, Sylt is located from 9 to 16 kilometres off the mainland, to which it is connected by the Hindenburgdamm. Southeast of Sylt are the islands of Föhr and Amrum, to the lies the Danish island of Rømø. The island of Sylt extends for 38 kilometres in a north-south direction, at its northern point at Königshafen, it is only 320 metres wide. Its greatest width, from the town of Westerland in the west to the eastern Nössespitze near Morsum, on the western and northwestern shore, there is a 40-kilometre-long sandy beach. To the east of Sylt, is the Wadden Sea, which belongs to the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, the islands shape has constantly shifted over time, a process which is still ongoing today. The geestland facing the Wadden Sea gradually turns into fertile marshland around Sylt-Ost, today sources show that Sylt has only been an island since the Grote Mandrenke flood of 1362. The so-called Uwe-Düne is the islands highest elevation with 52.5 metres above sea level, the island in its current form has only existed for about 400 years. Like the mainland geestland, it was formed of moraines from the ice ages, thus being made up of a till core. This sandy core began to erode as it was exposed to a current along the islands steep basement when the sea level rose 8000 years ago. During the process, sediments were accumulated north and south of the island, the west coast, which was originally situated 10 kilometres off todays shore, was thus gradually moved eastward, while at the same time the island began to extend to the north and south. After the ice ages, marshland began to form around this geestland core. In 1141, Sylt is recorded as an island, yet before the Grote Mandrenke flood it belonged to a cut by tidal creeks and, at least during low tide. It is only since this flood that the creation of a spit from sediments began to form the current characteristic shape of Sylt and it is the northern and southern edges of Sylt which were, and still are, the subject of greatest change. For example, Listland was separated from the rest of the island in the 14th century, in addition to the constant loss of land, the inhabitants during the Little Ice Age were constrained by sand drift

21.
Schleswig-Holstein
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Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its capital city is Kiel, other cities are Lübeck. Also known in more dated English as Sleswick-Holsatia, the Danish name is Slesvig-Holsten, the Low German name is Sleswig-Holsteen, historically, the name can also refer to a larger region, containing both present-day Schleswig-Holstein and the former South Jutland County in Denmark. The term Holstein derives from Old Saxon Holseta Land, originally, it referred to the central of the three Saxon tribes north of the River Elbe, Tedmarsgoi, Holstein and Sturmarii. The area of the tribe of the Holsts was between the Stör River and Hamburg, and after Christianization, their church was in Schenefeld. Saxon Holstein became a part of the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagnes Saxon campaigns in the eighth century. Since 811, the frontier of Holstein was marked by the River Eider. The term Schleswig comes from the city of Schleswig, around 1100, the Duke of Saxony gave Holstein, as it was his own country, to Count Adolf I of Schauenburg. Schleswig and Holstein have at different times belonged in part or completely to either Denmark or Germany, the exception is that Schleswig had never been part of Germany until the Second Schleswig War in 1864. For many centuries, the King of Denmark was both a Danish Duke of Schleswig and a German Duke of Holstein, essentially, Schleswig was either integrated into Denmark or was a Danish fief, and Holstein was a German fief and once a sovereign state long ago. Both were for centuries ruled by the kings of Denmark. In the church, following the reformation, German was used in the part of Schleswig. This would later prove decisive for shaping national sentiments in the population, the administration of both duchies was conducted in German, despite the fact that they were governed from Copenhagen. The German national awakening that followed the Napoleonic Wars gave rise to a popular movement in Holstein. This development was paralleled by an equally strong Danish national awakening in Denmark and this movement called for the complete reintegration of Schleswig into the Kingdom of Denmark and demanded an end to discrimination against Danes in Schleswig. The ensuing conflict is called the Schleswig-Holstein Question. e. Not only in the Kingdom of Denmark, but also to Danes living in Schleswig, furthermore, they demanded protection for the Danish language in Schleswig. A liberal constitution for Holstein was not seriously considered in Copenhagen and these demands were rejected by the Danish government in 1848, and the Germans of Holstein and southern Schleswig rebelled

22.
Aabenraa
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The city of Aabenraa or Åbenrå, with a population of 15,814, is at the head of the Aabenraa Fjord, an arm of the Little Belt, in Denmark,61 kilometres north of the town of Schleswig. It was the seat of Sønderjyllands Amt until 1 January 2007, the name Aabenraa originally meant open beach. Aabenraa was first mentioned in accounts in the 12th century. Aabenraa started growing in the early Middle Ages around Opnør Hus, the castle, and received status as a merchant town in 1240. During the Middle Ages the town was known for its fishing industry, between 1560 and 1721 the town was under the rule of the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp. The towns glory days were during the period of the 1750s to c,1864, when ship traffic was at a high growth rate with trade to the Mediterranean Sea, China, South America, and Australia. It possessed a harbour, which afforded shelter for a large carrying trade, Aabenraa having the Danish monarchys third-largest trade fleet, after Copenhagen. The city had a number of well-known shipbuilding yards, which were known for their fine ships, the most famous of these was the clipper Cimber, which in 1857 sailed from Liverpool to San Francisco in 106 days. Fishing and various small factories also provided occupations for the population, from 1864 as a result of the Second War of Schleswig it was part of Prussia, and as such part of the North German Confederation, and from 1871 onwards, part of the German Empire. In the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite that brought Northern Schleswig to Denmark,55. 1% of Aabenraas inhabitants voted for remaining part of Germany and 44. 9% voted for the cession to Denmark. However, since a plurality of votes in the surrounding Aabenraa municipality voted to join Denmark, after the 1948 Danish spelling reform, which abolished the digraph Aa in favor of Å, there was fervent resistance in Aabenraa. The town feared, among other things, to lose its status as first in alphabetical listings. A later revision of the rules allowed for retaining the Aa spelling as an option. While the municipality of Aabenraa and most local citizens use the Aa spelling, the town has a 7.5 meter deep harbour, with a significant shipping trade. There is varied industry in the city, including Marcussens Organ Building, the city is the administrative center for the county. Danmarks Radio has an office in the city, a significant German minority live in Aabenraa and they publish Der Nordschleswiger newspaper in German. Some significant buildings in the town are St. Nikolai Church from the time of King Valdemar with construction beginning ca,1250, and restored from 1949 to 1956. Brundlund Castle, erected by Queen Margaret I1411, and rebuilt in 1807, the town is a bathing resort, as is Elisenlund close by

23.
Alsen, Sweden
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Alsen is a parish and former municipality in Krokom Municipality, Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. The seat of the former municipality Alsen, Hov, is situated 50 kilometres northwest of Östersund, Jämtland has over 20000 documented ancient monuments. Petroglyphs in Glösa in the centre of Alsen were made approximately 6000 years ago, Alsen and other parts of Jämtland were Christianized in the middle of the 11th century. From 1178 to 1645 Alsen was a part of Norway, in 1645 Sweden received Alsen as a part of the Treaty of Brömsebro. Alsen is an agricultural area with a long history. In today’s Alsen, farming is important, but is still an important part of the local culture. There are small industries in Trångsviken on the lake Storsjön, for example Trangia AB which produces alcohol-burning portable stoves, Alsen is situated on the European route E14 from Trondheim to Sundsvall. Alsen Bleckåsen Glösa Kluk Kougsta Trångsviken Valne Vången The following sports clubs are located in Alsen, Alsens IF Alsen - en sockenbok

24.
Eider (river)
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The Eider is the longest river in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The river starts near Bordesholm and reaches the outskirts of Kiel on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The lower part of the Eider was used as part of the Eider Canal until that canal was replaced by the modern Kiel Canal, during the High Middle Ages the Eider was the border between the Saxons and the Danes, as reported by Adam of Bremen in 1076. For centuries it divided Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire, today it is the border between Schleswig and Holstein, the northern and southern parts, respectively, of the modern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The Eider flows through the towns, Bordesholm, Kiel, Rendsburg, Friedrichstadt. Near Tönning it flows into the North Sea, the estuary has tidal flats and brackish water. The mouth of the river is crossed by a storm surge barrier. A tidal lock provides access for boats through the Eider Barrage, the fishing port of Tönning lies 11 kilometres upstream of the barrier, while Friedrichstadt is 15 kilometres further upstream. At Friedrichstadt a lock gives access to the River Treene, the Eider remains tidal as far as the lock at Nordfeld,6 kilometres above Friedrichstadt. There is a lock at Lexfähre,52 kilometres upstream of Nordfeld. A further 3 kilometres beyond Lexfähre is the junction with the short Gieselau Canal, the Eider therefore provides an alternative route from the North Sea to the Kiel Canal, avoiding the tides of the estuary of the Elbe. The head of navigation lies a further 23 kilometres upstream at Rendsburg, although it is adjacent to the Kiel Canal, through passage is no longer possible

25.
Megalithic entrance
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A megalithic entrance is an architectonic feature that enables access to a megalithic tomb or structure. The design of the entrance has to seal the access to the structure in such a way that it is possible to gain access to the interior again, even after a long time. As the solutions were refined in detail, they all had in common the aim of sealing the structure that its re-opening was possible under difficult, in general the following forms of entrance may be differentiated, Simple dolmens 1. Half-height entrance sealed with a closure stone 4, full height half-width stone Dolmens 5. Additional entrance to the external passage Passage graves 7, low passage entrance in front of a portal Gallery graves and stone cists 10. Round port-hole Variation 7 has its focus in the Swedish Bohuslän, the stones forming the entrance were so selected or fashioned that together they form a triangular entrance. The portal entrance used a lintel, a horizontal block placed over two lower supporting stones in order to out the distance to the capstone. This enabled access, usually only by crawling, through a trilithon opening, an example of this type of construction is the Sieben Steinhäuser in Lower Saxony. Such chambers without passages may be found in the Netherlands and Schleswig-Holstein, the entrance location and size determines, ultimately, whether the structure is a passage grave or a dolmen. Variation 7 is not dissimilar to the so-called port-hole, in which the front stone or, as in the diagram, the slabs were made of a material that enabled contemporary methods and tools to be used to fashion them. This version occurs Central Europe at sites built by the Wartberg and Horgen cultures in Baden-Württemberg, some Swedish so-called megalithic stone cists also have port-holes. In German, such a hole is known as a Seelenloch, in the Bronze and Iron Age sites on Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula, similar openings are found, that are also narrow, but nearer the ground, and apse-like, with embedded closure stones. Another feature of ground-level entrances is a stone sill. This separates the secular or profane area of the passage from the burial chamber. In some cases, it serves to support the closure stone or slab. In some embedded simple dolmens and portal tomb it is so high that it forms a half-height front stone, enabling access above it, Nordic megalith architecture Jürgen E. Walkowitz, Das Megalithsyndrom. Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3

26.
Passage grave
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A passage grave or passage tomb consists of a narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone. The building of tombs was normally carried out with megaliths and smaller stones. Those with more than one chamber may have multiple sub-chambers leading off from the burial chamber. One common layout, the passage grave, is cross-shaped. Sometimes passage tombs are covered with a cairn, especially those dating from later times, not all passage graves have been found to contain evidence of human remains. Passage tombs of the type often have elaborate corbelled roofs rather than simple slabs. Megalithic art has been identified carved into the stones at some sites and this appears to be one of the first uses of the term passage tomb. It is likely that the writers borrowed from the Spanish term tumbas de corredor, which is used for tombs in Cantabria, Galicia, of their list, only passage tombs appear to have widespread distribution throughout Europe. Passage graves are distributed extensively in lands along the Atlantic seaboard of Europe and they are found in Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, northern Germany and the Drenthe area of the Netherlands. They are also found in Iberia, some parts of the Mediterranean, the earliest passage tombs seem to take the form of small dolmens. In Ireland and Britain, passage tombs are found in large clusters. Many later passage tombs were constructed at the tops of hills or mountains, Newgrange. com World Heritage IE - Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth

27.
Threshold stone
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A threshold stone or sill stone is a rectangularly dressed stone slab that forms part of the entrance of megalithic tombs of the Funnelbeaker culture, normally those with a passage. The red sandstone slab, up to 0. 1-metre-thick, was buried in the ground to a depth of 0.2 metres at the entrance to the chamber. Cultural sites of other types, such as Domus de Janas, threshold stones are typical of dolmens, gallery graves and passage graves, etc. Usually, however the upper edge of the threshold is not generally higher than 0.1 metres above the level of the floor in dolmens. The length of the threshold in polygonal dolmens and gallery and passage graves is also the width of the entrance which, in the Funnelbeaker culture, rarely exceeds 0.7 metres. As well as separating the chamber from the profane passage. If the passageway was used, e. g. in connexion with secondary burials, for cultic purposes, it was given a covering of flagstones, nordic megalith architecture Ewald Schuldt, Die mecklenburgischen Megalithgräber. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaft, Berlin,1972, beier & Beran, Langenweißbach,2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3. Photograph of the Mürow megalithic tomb with its large threshold stone

28.
Bad Doberan
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Bad Doberan is a town in the district of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It was the capital of the district of Bad Doberan. In 2012, its population was 11,427, Bad Doberan is situated just 15 kilometres west of Rostocks city centre and is therefore part of one of the most developed regions in the north-eastern part of Germany. The town nestles between beautiful beech tree forests just 6 km from the Baltic Sea and is one of the earliest German settlements in Mecklenburg. Today the town is a popular bathing resort, thanks to Heiligendamm. Historically, Doberan used to be the residence for the Mecklenburg Dukes who resided in Schwerin. The name Doberan, originally Dobran, is a name that probably derives from a Slavic Old Polabian personal name. According to legend, the name Doberan originated when the monastery was being built and it is said that a passing deer startled several swans, who shrieked with terror dobre dobre. Whereupon the monks called the place Doberan, even today, a deer and swan adorn the arms of the town. In 1179, these monasteries were destroyed in a Slavic uprising. Seven years later, the Cistercians made an attempt to found a monastery on the site of todays abbey. The Gothic church was consecrated in 1368, the Doberan Abbey became very rich due to its economic activities is and had a large estate. Until the dissolution of the monasteries during the Reformation in 1552, in addition to the monastery, there was a craftsmans village, the Kammerhof, two pubs, a brickworks, a blacksmith and several cottagers. It changed little after the monastery transferred in 1552 to the sovereign, a ducal office was established in the monastery, and a mill and hunters lodge appeared. Doberan suffered badly in the Thirty Years War, from England it been realised that swimming in the sea was especially beneficial to health. The bathers stayed in Doberan and played on machines, dancing. The princes gratitude to the builder who shaped the appearance of Doberan so much, was thin, Severin died in poverty and oblivion in Bad Doberan, the heyday only lasted a few decades. Gradually Heiligendamm evolved, once just an appendage of Doberans, into an independent resort, the railway, known locally as Molli still runs today via Heiligendamm to Kühlungsborn, passing through the centre of the town

29.
Funen
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Funen, with an area of 3,099.7 square kilometres, is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world and it is in the central part of the country and has a population of 466,284. The main city is Odense which is connected to the sea by a seldom-used canal, the citys shipyard, Odense Steel Shipyard, has been relocated outside Odense proper. Funen belongs administratively to the Region of Southern Denmark, from 1970 to 2006 the island formed the biggest part of Funen County, which also included the islands of Langeland, Ærø, Tåsinge, and a number of smaller islands. Funen is linked to Zealand, Denmarks largest island, by the Great Belt Bridge which carries both trains and cars, two bridges connect Funen to the Danish mainland, Jutland. The Old Little Belt Bridge was constructed in the 1930s shortly before World War II for both cars and trains, the New Little Belt Bridge, a suspension bridge, was constructed in the 1970s and is used for cars only. Apart from the city, Odense, all major towns are located in coastal areas. Beginning in the north-east of the island and moving clockwise, they are Kerteminde, Nyborg, Svendborg, Fåborg, Assens, Middelfart, the highest natural point on Funen is Frøbjerg Bavnehøj. Broholm Egeskov Castle Fynske Livregiment Horne Church Hvedholm Castle Korshavn, Denmark Skrøbelev Gods The Funen Village Funen brachteate in the collections of the National Museum of Denmark, official tourist information site for Funen

30.
Unchambered long barrow
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The term unchambered means that there is no stone chamber within the stone enclosure. In Great Britain they are known as non-megalithic long barrows or unchambered long cairns. Since the 1980s, barrows of the Passy type, part of the Cerny culture, have discovered in the French département of Essonne in the Paris Basin. These are not, however, megalithic structures, Neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities. Their emergence and function are a hallmark of social development, due to their small dimensions they were not suitable for constructing chambers, which is why there are no chambers made of large stone blocks. The enclosures are trapezoidal or rectangular, East of the River Oder they are often trapezoidal or triangular with rounded tips, mostly, however, without transverse walls dividing them into separate chambers. The site of Kritzow, has guardian stones higher than a man, one group of three grave sites was first discovered in 1969 in the Alt Plestliner Holz, Vorpommern-Greifswald. One of these enclosures is 80 metres long, five unchambered barrows were investigated in the 19th century by J. Ritter in the county of Hagenow. All these sites are characterized by clearly defined mounds of stone, in the complex of Stralendorf were six such mounds of cobbles, lying transversely and longitudinally, bounded by a 125-metre-long trapezoidal enclosure. Such mounds are found outside the enclosures or are found in or adjacent to barrows in which there are chambers, for example. The barrow of Alter Hau in the forest of Sachsenwald has a length of 154 metres and is one of the longest sites in Nordic megalith architecture. The Tinnum long barrow on the island of Sylt is a barrow that has neither a chamber nor a megalithic enclosure. It clearly represents a transitional type and these so-called Konens Høj type or Niedźwiedź type graves are especially common in the Funnelbeaker culture area east of the River Oder. The 200 or so British earthen long barrows were constructed with an enclosure of wooden posts and they are especially common in Wiltshire and Yorkshire. Three sites lie in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man, the barrows were formed over wooden chambers. In East Scotland there is another chamberless and non-megalithic variant, the chamberless cairn and these only occur in England in Cumbria and Northumberland. The earth mounds or tumuli in Brittany are pre-megalithic, such as the tertres allongés in Landes and they are low, slab-enclosed mounds,15 to 35 metres wide and 40 to 100 metres long. They are rectangular or oval and contain dry walled internal structures for cremation ashes, in the early megalithic period oversized earth mounds emerged, like the tumulus of Carnac, that has ciste-like elements

31.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

32.
Neolithic Europe
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Neolithic Europe is the period when Neolithic technology was present in Europe, roughly between 7000 BCE and c.1700 BCE. The Neolithic overlaps the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe as cultural changes moved from the southeast to northwest at about 1 km/year - this is called Neolithic Expansion. Polished stone axes lie at the heart of the culture, enabling forest clearance for agriculture and production of wood for dwellings. Since the 1970s, population genetics has provided independent data on the history of Neolithic Europe, including migration events. Remains of food-producing societies in the Aegean have been carbon-dated to around 6500 BCE at Knossos, Franchthi Cave, Neolithic groups appear soon afterwards in the Balkans and south-central Europe. The Neolithic cultures of southeastern Europe show some continuity with groups in southwest Asia and Anatolia. All Neolithic sites in Europe contain ceramics, and contain the plants and animals domesticated in Southwest Asia, einkorn, emmer, barley, lentils, pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. Genetic data suggest that no independent domestication of animals took place in Neolithic Europe, the only domesticate not from Southwest Asia was broomcorn millet, domesticated in East Asia. The earliest evidence of cheese-making dates to 5500 BCE in Kujawy, archaeologists seem to agree that the culture of the early Neolithic is relatively homogeneous, compared both to the late Mesolithic and the later Neolithic. The diffusion across Europe, from the Aegean to Britain, took about 2,500 years, the Baltic region was penetrated a bit later, around 3500 BCE, and there was also a delay in settling the Pannonian plain. In general, colonization shows a pattern, as the Neolithic advanced from one patch of fertile alluvial soil to another. With some exceptions, population rose rapidly at the beginning of the Neolithic until they reached the carrying capacity. This was followed by a crash of enormous magnitude after 5000 BCE. Populations began to rise after 3500 BCE, with further dips, a study of twelve European regions found most experienced boom and bust patterns and suggested an endogenous, not climatic cause. Archaeologists agree that the associated with agriculture originated in the Levant/Near East. However, debate exists whether this resulted from an active process from the Near East, or merely due to cultural contact. Currently, three models summarize the pattern of spread, Replacement model, posits that there was a significant migration of farmers from the Fertile Crescent into Europe. Given their technological advantages, they would have displaced or absorbed the less numerous hunter-gathering populace, thus, modern Europeans are primarily descended from these Neolithic farmers

33.
Chalcolithic
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The Copper Age was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the worlds oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BCE, the multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term Bronze Age meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the hard substance for the manufacture of tools. In 1881, John Evans, recognizing that the use of copper often preceded the use of bronze and he did not include the transitional period in the tripartite system of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age but placed it at the beginning outside of it. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age, in 1884, Gaetano Chierici, perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the Eneo-litica, or Bronze-stone transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze, moreover, litica simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another -lithic age. Subsequently, British scholars used either Evanss Copper Age or the term Eneolithic, around 1900, many writers began to substitute Chalcolithic for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian, the -lithic was seen as a new -lithic age, a part of the Stone Age in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today Copper Age, Eneolithic and Chalcolithic are used synonymously to mean Evanss original definition of Copper Age, there was an independent invention of copper and bronze smelting first by Andean civilizations in South America extended later by sea commerce to the Mesoamerican civilization in West Mexico. The literature of European archaeology, in general, avoids the use of Chalcolithic, the Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus began in the late 5th millennium BCE and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, an archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of coppermaking from 7,500 years ago. In Serbia, an axe was found at Prokuplje, which indicates that humans were using metals in Europe by 7,500 years ago. Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself, the European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with imitation mold marks carved in the stone. Ötzi the Iceman, who was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, examples of Chalcolithic cultures in Europe include Vila Nova de São Pedro and Los Millares on the Iberian Peninsula. Pottery of the Beaker people has found at both sites, dating to several centuries after copper-working began there. The Beaker culture appears to have copper and bronze technologies in Europe. The term Chalcolithic is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree whether it applies in the British context, in Bhirrana, the earliest Indus civilization site, copper bangles and arrowheads were found

34.
Mesolithic
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In archaeology, the Mesolithic is the culture between Paleolithic and Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used for areas outside northern Europe, Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It was originally post-Pleistocene, pre-agricultural material in northwest Europe about 10,000 to 5000 BC, in the archaeology of Northern Europe, for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia, the term Mesolithic is almost always used. In the archaeology of other areas, the term Epipaleolithic may be preferred by most authors, in the New World, neither term is used. Other authors use the term Mesolithic for a variety of Late Paleolithic cultures subsequent to the end of the last glacial period whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not, conversely, those that are in course of transition toward artificial food production are assigned to the Mesolithic. Therefore, care must be taken in translating Mesolithic as Middle Stone Age, subdivisions of earlier and later were added to the Stone Age by Thomsen and especially his junior colleague and employee Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae. John Lubbock kept these divisions in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865 and he saw no need for an intermediate category. When Hodder Westropp introduced the Mesolithic in 1866, as an intermediate between Paleolithic and Neolithic, a storm of controversy immediately arose around it. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate, the ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later, edouard Piette claimed to have filled the gap with his discovery of the Azilian Culture. Knut Stjerna offered an alternative in the Epipaleolithic, a continuation of the use of Paleolithic technology, the start and end dates of the Mesolithic vary by geographical region. Childes view prevails that the term covers the period between the end of the Pleistocene and the start of the Neolithic. If the Mesolithic is more similar to the Paleolithic it is called the Epipaleolithic, the Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering while in the Neolithic domestication of plants and animals had occurred. Some Mesolithic peoples continued with intensive hunting, others were practising the initial stages of domestication. The type of remains the diagnostic factor, The Mesolithic featured composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools. The Paleolithic had utilized Modes I–IV and the Neolithic mainly abandoned the chipped microliths in favor of polished, not chipped, the first period, known as Mesolithic 1, followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic periods throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries, small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts

35.
Cardium pottery
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These forms of pottery are in turn used to define the Neolithic culture which produced and spread them, mostly commonly called the Cardial culture. The alternative name impressed ware is given by archaeologists to define this culture, because impressions can be with sharp objects other than cockle shell. Impressed pottery is more widespread than the Cardial. Impressed ware is found in the zone covering Italy to the Ligurian coast as distinct from the more western Cardial extending from Provence to western Portugal. The sequence in prehistoric Europe has traditionally been supposed to start with widespread Cardial ware, however the widespread Cardial and Impressed pattern types overlap and are now considered more likely to be contemporary. The earliest impressed ware sites, dating to 6400-6200 BC, are in Epirus, settlements then appear in Albania and Dalmatia on the eastern Adriatic coast dating to between 6100 and 5900 BC. The earliest date in Italy comes from Coppa Nevigata on the Adriatic coast of southern Italy, also during Su Carroppu culture in Sardinia, already in its early stages early examples of cardial pottery appear. This suggests an expansion by planting colonies along the coast. Older Neolithic cultures existed already at time in eastern Greece and Crete, apparently having arrived from the Levant. Early Neolithic impressed pottery is found in the Levant, and certain parts of Anatolia, including Mezraa-Teleilat, so the first Cardial settlers in the Adriatic may have come directly from the Levant. Of course it might well have come directly from North Africa. Along the East Mediterranean coast impressed ware has found in North Syria, Palestine. Prehistoric Italy Prehistory of Corsica Prehistoric Iberia Byblos Stone Age

36.
Corded Ware culture
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Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from the Rhine on the west to the Volga in the east, occupying parts of Northern Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The Corded Ware was genetically related to the Yamnaya culture. The Corded Ware culture may have disseminated the Proto-Germanic and Proto-Balto-Slavic Indo-European languages, the Corded Ware Culture also shows genetic affinity with the later Sintashta culture, where the proto-Indo-Iranian language originated. The term Corded Ware culture was first introduced by the German archaeologist Friedrich Klopfleisch in 1883 and he named it after cord-like impressions or ornamentation characteristic of its pottery. The term Single Grave culture comes from its burial custom, which consisted of inhumation under tumuli in a position with various artifacts. Battle Axe culture, or Boat Axe culture, is named from its characteristic grave offering to males, at the same time, they had several shared elements that are characteristic of all Corded Ware groups, such as their burial practices, pottery with cord decoration and unique stone-axes. The contemporary Beaker culture overlapped with the extremity of this culture, west of the Elbe. The origins and dispersal of Corded Ware culture was for a time one of the pivotal unresolved issues of the Indo-European Urheimat problem. Its wide area of distribution indicates rapid expansion at the time of the dispersal of Indo-European languages. Some archaeologists believed it sprang from central Europe while others saw an influence from nomadic societies of the steppes. In favour of the first view was the fact that Corded Ware coincides considerably with the earlier north-central European Funnelbeaker culture, according to Gimbutas, the Corded Ware culture was preceded by the Globular Amphora culture, which she regarded to be an Indo-European culture. The Globular Amphora culture stretched from central Europe to the Baltic sea, however, in other regions Corded Ware appears to herald a new culture and physical type. The degree to which cultural change generally represents immigration were matter of debate, according to controversial radiocarbon dates, Corded Ware ceramic forms in single graves develop earlier in the area that is now Poland than in western and southern Central Europe. The earliest radiocarbon dates for Corded Ware indeed come from Kujawy and Lesser Poland in central and southern Poland, whereas in the area of the present Baltic states and East Prussia, it is seen as an intrusive successor to the southwestern portion of the Narva culture. However, today Corded Ware is now seen as intrusive, though not necessarily aggressively so. A Genetic study conducted by Haak et al, about 75% of the DNA of late Neolithic Corded Ware skeletons found in Germany was a precise match to DNA from individuals of the Yamnaya culture. Haak et al. also note that their results suggest that haplogroups R1b and R1a spread into Europe from the East after 3,000 BCE.5 In terms of phenotypes, Wilde et al. and Haak et al. Autosomal DNA tests also indicate that the Yamnaya migration from the steppes introduced a component of ancestry referred to as Ancient North Eurasian admixture into Europe

37.
Linear Pottery culture
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The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing circa 5500–4500 BC. It is abbreviated as LBK, and is known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture. The densest evidence for the culture is on the middle Danube, the upper and middle Elbe, and it represents a major event in the initial spread of agriculture in Europe. The pottery after which it was named consists of simple cups, bowls, vases, and jugs, without handles, but in a phase with lugs or pierced lugs, bases. The Eastern Linear Pottery Culture flourished in eastern Hungary, Middle and late phases are also defined. In the middle phase, the Early Linear Pottery culture intruded upon the Bug-Dniester culture, in the late phase, the Stroked Pottery culture moved down the Vistula and Elbe. A number of cultures ultimately replaced the Linear Pottery culture over its range, the culture map, instead, is complex. Some of the cultures are the Hinkelstein, Großgartach, Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillian. The term Linear Band Ware derives from the potterys decorative technique, the Band Ware or Bandkeramik part of it began as an innovation of the German archaeologist, Friedrich Klopfleisch. The earliest generally accepted name in English was the Danubian of V. Gordon Childe, most names in English are attempts to translate Linearbandkeramik. Since Starčevo-Körös pottery was earlier than the LBK and was located in a contiguous food-producing region, much of the Starčevo-Körös pottery features decorative patterns composed of convolute bands of paint, spirals, converging bands, vertical bands, and so on. The LBK appears to imitate and often improve these convolutions with incised lines, hence the term, linear, the LBK did not begin with this range and only reached it toward the end of its time. It began in regions of densest occupation on the middle Danube, the rate of expansion was therefore about 4 km per year, which can hardly be called an invasion or a wave by the standard of current events, but over archaeological time seems especially rapid. The LBK was concentrated somewhat inland from the areas, i. e. it is not evidenced in Denmark or the northern coastal strips of Germany and Poland. The northern coastal regions remained occupied by Mesolithic cultures exploiting the then fabulously rich Atlantic salmon runs, evidently, the Neolithics and Mesolithics were not excluding each other. The LBK at maximum extent ranged from about the line of the Seine–Oise eastward to the line of the Dnieper, and southward to the line of the upper Danube down to the big bend. An extension ran through the Southern Bug valley, leaped to the valley of the Dniester, a good many C-14 dates have been acquired on the LBK, making possible statistical analyses, which have been performed on different sample groups. The 95. 4% confidence interval is 5600–4750 BC, data continue to be acquired and therefore any one analysis should be taken as a rough guideline only

38.
Archaeological culture
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An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on understanding and interpretation and does not necessarily relate to real groups of humans in the past. The concept of culture is fundamental to culture-historical archaeology. Different cultural groups have material culture items which differ both functionally and aesthetically due to varying cultural and social practices and this notion is observably true on the broadest scales. For example, the equipment associated with the brewing of tea varies greatly across the world, social relations to material culture often include notions of identity and status. The classic definition of this comes from Gordon Childe, We find certain types of remains - pots, implements, ornaments, burial rites. Such a complex of associated traits we shall call a group or just a culture. We assume that such a complex is the expression of what today we would call a people. The concept of a culture was crucial to linking the typological analysis of archaeological evidence to mechanisms that attempted to explain why they change through time. The key explanations favoured by culture-historians were the diffusion of forms from one group to another or the migration of the peoples themselves. Conversely, if one pottery-type suddenly replaces a great diversity of types in an entire region. Archaeological cultures were generally equated with separate peoples leading in some cases to distinct nationalist archaeologies, most archaeological cultures are named after either the type artifact or type site that defines the culture. For example, cultures may be named after pottery types such as Linear Pottery Culture or Funnelbeaker culture, more frequently, they are named after the site at which the culture was first defined such as the Halstatt culture or Clovis culture. Since the term culture has different meanings, scholars have also coined a more specific term paleo-culture or paleoculture. Works of Kulturgeschichte were produced by a number of German scholars, particularly Gustav Klemm, from 1780 onwards, the first use of culture in an archaeological context was in Christian Thomsens 1836 work Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed. It was not until the 20th century and the works of German prehistorian, Kossinna saw the archaeological record as a mosaic of clearly defined cultures that were strongly associated with race. The strongly racist character of Kossinnas work meant it had direct influence outside of Germany at the time. However, the general culture history approach to archaeology that he began did replace social evolutionism as the dominant paradigm for much of the 20th century

39.
Baden culture
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The Baden culture, ca 3600 BC-ca 2800 BC, is an eneolithic culture found in Central and Southeast Europe. It is known from Moravia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, northern Serbia, western Romania, imports of Baden pottery have also been found in Germany and Switzerland, where it could be dated by dendrochronology. The Baden culture was named after Baden near Vienna by the Austrian prehistorian Oswald Menghin and it is also known as the Ossarn group or Pecel culture. The first monographic treatment was produced by J. Banner in 1956, other important scholars are E. Neustupny, Ida Bognar-Kutzian and Vera Nemejcova-Pavukova. Baden has been interpreted as part of a larger archaeological complex encompassing cultures at the mouth of the Danube. In 1963, Nándor Kalicz had proposed a connection between the Baden culture and Troy, based on the urns from Ózd-Centre. This interpretation cannot be maintained in the face of radiocarbon dates, the author himself has called this interpretation a cul-de-sac, based on a misguided historical methodology. Baden developed out of the late Lengyel culture in the western Carpathian Basin, němejcová-Pavuková proposes a polygenetic origin, including southeastern elements transmitted by the Ezero culture of the early Bronze Age and Cernavoda III/Coțofeni. Ecsedy parallelises Baden with Early Helladic II in Thessaly, Parzinger with Sitagroi IV, Baden was approximately contemporaneous with the late Funnelbeaker culture, the Globular Amphora culture and the early Corded Ware culture. The following phases are known, Balaton-Lasinya, Baden-Boleráz, Post-Boleráz, the settlements were often located on hilltops and were normally undefended. Both inhumations and cremations are known, in Slovakia and Hungary, the burned remains were often placed in anthropomorphic urns. In Nitriansky Hrádok, a grave was uncovered. There are also burials of cattle, up to now, the only cemetery known from the early Boleráz-phase is Pilismárot, which also contained a few examples of stroke-ornamented pottery. In Serbia, anthropomorphic urns were found in the towns of Dobanovci, Gomolava, Perlez, full-scale agriculture was present, along with the keeping of domestic stock—pigs, goats, etc. The Baden culture has some of the earliest attestation of wheeled vehicles in central Europe, finds of actual waggons have not been made, but there are burials of pairs of cattle that have been interpreted as draught animals. In the Kurgan hypothesis espoused by Marija Gimbutas, the Baden culture is seen as being Indo-Europeanized, for proponents of the older theory that seeks the Indo-European homeland in central Europe in the area occupied by the preceding Funnelbeaker culture, it is similarly considered Indo-European. Coțofeni culture Prehistory of Transylvania J. Banner, Die Peceler Kultur, K problematike trvania a konca boleazkej skupiny na Slovensku. J. P. Mallory, Baden Culture, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture,1997

40.
Beaker culture
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The term was coined by John Abercromby, based on the cultures distinctive pottery drinking beakers. The Bell Beaker period marks a period of contact in Atlantic and Western Europe on a scale not seen previously. It has been suggested that the beakers were designed for the consumption of alcohol, beer and mead content have been identified from certain examples. However, not all Beakers were drinking cups, some were used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores, others have some organic residues associated with food, and still others were employed as funerary urns. They were used as status display amongst disparate elites, there have been numerous proposals by archaeologists as to the origins of the Bell Beaker culture, and debates continued on for decades. Several regions of origin have been postulated, notably the Iberian peninsula, similarly, scholars have postulated various mechanisms of spread, including migrations of populations, smaller warrior groups, individuals, or a diffusion of ideas and object exchange. Recent analyses have made significant inroads to understanding the Beaker phenomenon and they have concluded that the Bell Beaker phenomenon was a synthesis of elements, representing “an idea and style uniting different regions with different cultural traditions and background. An overview of all sources from southern Germany concluded that Bell Beaker was a new and independent culture in that area. The inspiration for the Maritime Bell Beaker is argued to have been the small and earlier Copoz beakers that have impressed decoration and which are found widely around the Tagus estuary in Portugal. Turek sees late Neolithic precursors in northern Africa, arguing the Maritime style emerged as a result of contacts between Iberia and Morocco in the first half of the third millennium BC. AOO and AOC Beakers appear to have evolved continually from a period in the lower Rhine and North Sea regions, at least for Northern. Furthermore, the ritual which typified Bell Beaker sites was intrusive into Western Europe. Such an arrangement is rather derivative of Corded Ware traditions although, instead of battle-axes, the initial moves from the Tagus estuary were maritime. A northern move incorporated the southern coast of Armorica, the enclave established in southern Brittany was linked closely to the riverine and landward route, via the Loire, and across the Gâtinais valley to the Seine valley, and thence to the lower Rhine. This was a long-established route reflected in early stone axe distributions, another pulse had brought Bell Beaker to Csepel Island in Hungary by about 2500 BC. But in contrast to the early Bell Beaker preference for the dagger and bow, here Bell Beaker people assimilated local pottery forms such as the polypod cup. These common ware types of pottery then spread in association with the bell beaker. From the Carpathian Basin Bell Beaker spread down the Rhine and eastwards into what is now Germany, by this time the Rhine was on the western edge of the vast Corded Ware zone

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Boian culture
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The Boian culture, also known as the Giuleşti-Mariţa culture or Mariţa culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe. It is primarily found along the course of the Danube in what is now Romania and Bulgaria. The Boian culture originated on the Wallachian Plain north of the Danube River in southeastern Romania, the type site of the Boian culture is located on an island on Lake Boian in the region of Muntenia, on the Wallachian Plain north of the Danube River. The Boian culture is divided traditionally into four phases, each of which is given a name of one of the sites that are associated with it, Phase I - Bolintineanu Phase. Phase II - Giuleşti Phase, 4200-4100 BC, Phase III - Vidra Phase, 4100-4000 BC. Phase IV - Spanţov Phase, 4000-3500 BC, the Boian culture ended through a smooth transition into the Gumelniţa culture, which also borrowed from the Vădastra culture. As a result, there are frequent references to this by scholars, sometimes, though, this term is mis-used by some to include both the entire Boian culture and Gumelniţa culture periods, not just the transitional period overlapping the two cultures. Since each culture is distinct from the other during its main phases, they should each be considered and named separately, Boian archaeological sites have tended to be found next to rivers and lakes that had rich floodplains that provided fertile soil for agriculture. There were three different types of structures found in Boian sites, during Boian phases I and II the dwellings of this culture were thrown-together, oval-shaped lean-to or dugout pit-house shelters built into river banks and ledges. In Boian phases III and IV the dwellings became more sophisticated, the third type of houses were larger, rectangular wattle and daub structures with wooden platform floors covered in clay, and roughly-thatched roofs, built at ground level. During phases III and IV the first settlements began to appear and these settlements were typically built on high, steep terraces or headlands above the floodplain of the rivers or lakes that were always nearby. Later settlements also sometimes showed signs of fortification in the form of deep. In Phase IV surface houses became dominant over subterranean, and the settlements grew to include up to 150 people and their economy was characterized by the practice of agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, gathering and fishing. The proximity of their settlements to deciduous forests and steppe vegetation provided a supply of wild game for their diet and fuel for their fires, tools. In addition, their nearness to rivers, lakes, and marshes provided a source of game fowl and fish. In addition to the black/grey and white pottery, a few localized examples of red-inlaid clay decoration were found, beginning in Phase III, they began to use graphite paint to decorate their pottery, a method probably borrowed from the south Balkan Marica culture. The Boian culture continued to improve its ceramic technology until it reached its height during Phase III, after which it began to decline in quality and workmanship. The use of lithic technology occurred throughout this cultures existence, attested to by the presence of debitage found next to various types of shaped flint and polished stone tools

The Gaudo Culture is a neolithic culture from Southern Italy, primarily in the region of Campania, active at the …

Gaudo pot

An example of a Gaudo Culture tomb, made up of an access shaft with antechamber, from which branch off two burial chambers, containing ceremonial ceramics like the one pictured above, and human skeletons bound up in the fetal position.